Although he won the Van Cliburn competition back in 1977 and left Russia for the USA in 1983, Alexander Toradze is a new entrant to the UK record catalogues. He comes with a reputation for titanic technical feats (his Prokofiev Second Concerto is spoken of with awe) but also for fearsome aggressiveness.
So far as this debut record goes, that is about the size of it. In the concert hall Toradze's Prokofiev and Stravinsky would surely be cheered to the echo; and I fancy I would be cheering as loud as anyone. He tackles these pianistic tours de force with unflinching bravery, determined either to conquer or to go down with all guns blazing. His tempos are fast and furious, his temperament fiery, and he is adventurous enough to want to do something positive about the unsatisfactory ending of the Petrushka movements. Moreover, anyone who can produce such a doleful ringing of bells in the Prokofiev slow movement or such a poised rendition of Petrushka's musings in his cell has to be worth going to hear.
But the inevitable conclusion from this record (and especially from comparison with Pollini on DG) is that Toradze's instincts will have to be tempered by a higher level of musical intelligence before we can speak of a truly first-rate artist. It is largely just that the hectic tempos lead to confusion and bluster, steamrollering the contours of the music and damaging textural clarity. Much of Petrushka sounds overweight and unsteady and the third movement nearly gives out altogether. The enunciation of Prokofiev's slow movement theme is prosaic, and when poetry materializes it tends to fly around haphazardly rather than being focused into something genuinely moving. Soft passages, not surprisingly, fare worst of all.
This probably already suggests that he is not ideally suited to the subtle half-lights of Ravel's Miroirs. In fact there are some ravishing sounds in ''Oiseaux tristes'' and ''La vallee des cloches'' and parts of ''Alborada'' are astonishing. But ''Noctuelles'' and ''Une barque sur l'ocean'' are over-emphatic (evoking Scriabin rather than Ravel) and too many textures are coarse for one reason or another. Possibly a really outstanding Miroirs has yet to appear on CD, but for the moment Yukie Nagai (BIS) is easily preferable. Curiously, EMI's recording lacks body (I'm fairly sure the playing doesn't). As an authentic barnstormer Toradze certainly deserves to be heard, but as yet his playing is the kind with which competitions are won rather than legends made. And I take back not a word of my ecstatic review of Pollini.'